Four killed in Mumbai building collapse

Mumbai, June 22 (IANS) At least four people were killed and three injured when a four-storeyed abandoned building, which was occupied by some unauthorised dwellers, collapsed in Mumbai early Saturday, officials said.

The incident occurred around 6.30 a.m. when the dilapidated Piyush Building suddenly came crashing down, catching the unauthorised dwellers unaware, said an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) disaster control cell.

This is the third major building crash tragedy in the Mumbai metropolitan region in the past 10 days.

On Saturday, firefighters and other rescuers extricated two bodies, while five people were brought out alive from the rubble of the building located in the city's Dahisar east suburb.

Of the injured, two succumbed later at the BMC's Bhagwati Hospital while the condition of the remaining three is stated to be serious.

Two dead have been identified as Faizan Sheikh and Dharmendra Harijan, believed to be local vegetable vendors.

There is no information whether more people are trapped under the debris. Relief and rescue operations are in full swing.

Dahisar Shiv Sena legislator Vinod Ghosalkar said the building had been evacuated two years ago after it was declared dangerous by the civic authorities.

"It was due to be redeveloped. But owing to a dispute between the owner and tenants, the matter is under litigation. In the meantime, local vegetable vendors were taking shelter there," Ghosalkar told reporters.

On June 10, an old four-storey building collapsed at Mahim in central Mumbai, killing 10 and injuring another six.

On Friday, 10 people, including six children, were killed when a 35-year-old three-storey Shakuntala building crashed in Mumbra town in Thane district, about 40 km from here.

And April 4, Mumbra witnessed the state's worst-ever building crash which killed 75 people and injured another 60.